After signing Phil Kessel to a franchise record 8-year, $64 million contract to start the season, the next most important item for Dave Nonis is deciding what to do with Dion Phaneuf. If he decides to sign the soon-to-be free agent, it won't be cheap.

The Sabres keep making headlines, and for all the wrong reasons. They can't win a game, they are going to trade anyone decent for peanuts, and they now have more suspensions than wins. Woof!

Most defencemen aren't able to play in a shutdown role for years. It took Seth Jones two games.

For Nashville's first two games of the season, Shea Weber took on the heavy lifting and was matched up almost exclusively against the opposition's top lines. Barry Trotz spread out Jones' minutes evenly amongst everyone else.

But when Roman Josi, Weber's usual partner, went down with a head injury in the second game of the season, it opened up the door for Jones to take on more responsibility. A lot of responsibility.

Better days.

It isn't an easy time to be a hockey fan living in Western New York. Heck, it isn't a good time to be a hockey fan living anywhere in New York considering the poor start by the New York Rangers.